Specialty Food Magazine

WINTER 2015

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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producer profile
In 1999 she landed a Bay Area job in the environmental con-
sulting industry, doing field-testing of soil and groundwater and
working with contractors.
"It was interesting but I wasn't fulfilled," she says. "I wasn't in
control of my own destiny." After three years she walked away from
a lucrative career. A year of soul-searching ensued.
Keane returned to Ireland and ambled around, visiting farmers
markets and getting in touch with the artisan food movement. "I
also did a lot of baking and fell back in love with food," she recalls.
At the end of 2004 she returned to San Francisco, with sev-
eral ideas but no concrete answer for her next chapter. One Sunday
she invited some friends over for dinner and was inspired to make
a batch of caramel squares. "This is your career!" they declared,
enchanted by the combination of rich f lavors and the interplay of
creamy and crunchy textures. The shortbread foundation was but-
tery and firm yet crumbly, the caramel layer gooey, the chocolate
topping smooth and snappy. Her American friends urged her to
introduce them to the U.S. marketplace.
"Even then it took a while to sink in," Keane admits. "I had a
hard time accepting that cookies were going to be my business, that
it could be enough to leave a career with a good income."
At the same time she recognized she was in the right place for
such an endeavor. "In San Francisco it's so open-minded. It's a great
launching pad to start an artisan food business," she says.
Powering Through Big Challenges
Keane enrolled in business and entrepreneurship classes and joined
mentorship groups. From the encouragement she received she knew
she was on the right path. She drew up a business plan and was
accepted at a local incubator food kitchen, La Cocina. The com-
munity spirit of fellow entrepreneurs, most of whom were women,
helped her get through roadblocks, sharing good days and bad.
Clairesquares launched in 2006, but success was not instant.
By this time, Keane's sister Ann-Marie had also moved to the
U.S. and was working as a real estate appraiser in Las Vegas. As
Keane continued to test recipes, she earned a little money on the
side by working for her sister. Not only was she missing her former
income, ingredients were expensive. She insisted on using local
butter and unbleached f lour and pricier cane sugar instead of corn
syrup. The chocolate was Belgian, simply because that was what
Keane grew up eating and she treasured the childhood association.
"There were many dark moments," Keane says of getting
the business off the ground. "The caramel was the [most finicky]
part to scale up." After handcrafting the squares proved too time-
consuming, she invested $10,000 in a caramel-making machine and
labored over how to keep the ingredient from crystallizing. "It was
hair-pulling frustration, incredibly difficult. In my learning curve I
lost loads of batches, but I knew it was going to simplify things in
the long run."
The failures made her try harder, and she refused to give up.
She was determined to use no additives or preservatives. Experts
came by the test kitchen to assist her efforts and she eventually
learned how to make perfect caramel every time.
Meanwhile, she had gone through all the money she had saved as
an environmental consultant. She cashed in her 401(k). Store demos
kept her spirits up. People continually confirmed they loved the cara-
mel squares and hadn't tasted anything like them before. "That kind
of feedback was fuel to the fire to keep me going," she says.
Fostering Creativity
It wasn't until 2010 that Clairesquares turned a corner financially. In
2012 she switched production to a co-packer in the East Bay, which
freed her up to develop new products, such as Buttery Shortbread
Squares, which became a sofi Finalist for outstanding cookie. Keane
found that when she was producing all the products herself she
became frazzled. "The business was running me—I wasn't running
the business," she says. "The co-packer gave me critical space in my
head. Now I can spend time thinking about my vision for 2015 and
how I am going to execute it."
CLAIRE
KEANE
Age:
39
Years
in
specialty
food:
8
Favorite
food:
Dessert,
of
course.
Anything
to
do
with
caramel.
Least
favorite
food:
Olives
Last
thing
I
ate
and
loved:
Sweet
almond
cake
at
b.
patisserie
in
San
Francisco
If
I
weren't
in
the
food
business
I'd
be
in:
Environmental
consulting
One
piece
of
advice
I'd
give
to
a
new
food
business:
Be
prepared
for
a
long
journey
and
have
mentors
all
along
the
way.
Set
aside
a
rainy-day
fund
and
don't
quit
your
day
job
until
you
know
your
business
is
really
on
a
firm
foundation.
Keane has held to an Irish
theme for all of the products
she's developed.
56 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com